Louis Marie Turreau

Louis Marie Turreau (4 July 1756 -10 December 1816) was a French officer during the French Revolutionary Wars . He was famous for his role as the organizer of the infernal columns during the War in the Vendee, an operation that resulted in the death of thousands of Vendéens and damaged the countryside. Under the First French Empire, he was ambassador to the United States then a baron d'Empire.

Biography
His father was a fiscal procurator for waters and forests to the Évreux  region before becoming the mayor. Because of that,  certain privileges were granted to the Turreau family. After he was elected the Mayor of Aviron, he bought several clerical estates such as the Abbaye de Conches. He did not have any military accomplishment before the Revolution. During the Revolution, he joined the National Guard of Conches and took over as the leader in July 1792. In the September of that same year, he was elected captain of volunteers from Eure and fought on the northern frontiers. He was later promoted the the rank of colonel and integrated into Army of the Moselle, a part the of the French Revolutionary Army. In 1793, Turreau was invited to the Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle, an Army in the French Revolution. He served as the leader of the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees for one month and fifthteen days, the period in which he was defeated by Spanish General Antonio Ricardos. In 1794, he criticized General Eustache Charles Joseph d'Aoust to the Committee of Public Safety, which ultimately led to Eustache's execution. Turreau became Commander in Chief of the armée de l'Ouest at the end of 1793. After that, he led the infernal columns. Turreau was named Governor of Belle-Île in May 1794. After he was arrested in September 1794, he spent his time in prison editing Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire de la Vendée. He was acquitted by a military tribunal in 1795. Under French Consulate, he served as an envoy to Switzerland. In 1800, he managed a division in a diversionary attack on Turin from the west but missed the Battle of Marengo. From 1803 to 1811, he was the French ambassador to the United States. He published a Mémoire contre le retour éphémère des hommes à privilèges during Hundred Days. He was awarded Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis but died before the official ceremony.